A newspaper story today said that just a few policedispatch centers in USA can handle text 911 calls, andpointed out a cruel irony. Everyone can send tweets,facebook postings and chat all the time in groupchats. Yet text 911 technology is not there inevery call center! Why?

— easily remembering a deaf Uber driver

Two hearing passengers entered Uber car drivenby a deaf driver. Shocked, but needing a quickride, theese passengers just sat in the car,hoping there were no communication problems.The deaf driver simply texted on his iPhone,asking if they were the correct passengersand that the destination was correct. Whenthe two passengers nodded yes, the deaf drivertwice Thumbed Up as to say – perfect. Thesehearing passengers felt bad that they didn’tknow the signs for Thank You!

Bernard Bragg has departed us. He was the face of DeafEntertainment in a long career that spanned 7 decades –TV, film, stage, one-man shows, etc. One thing stoodout – he was the pioneering host of a hearing TVprogram. During the late fifties/early sixties,he hosted his own one-man TV show in San Francisco– The Quiet Man which featured his mime movements.It was the first time in history of TV that adeaf person hosted his own TV show. Not wantingto be typecast, he moved on to many different rolesin the entertainment world over the years and decades.

— hiring a bad interpreter at own risk

A Michigan medical facility hired a bad interpeterto interpret for deaf parents while their childwas in the hospital. The interpreting was so badthat the parents sued. The hospital won and theparents appealed. The Michigan Court of Appealspanel ruled in favor of deaf parents. Thisshould be a lesson – do not hire a bad interpreter!DeafDigest editor knows from too many personalexperiences with bad interpreters.

— deaf-blind resident not allowed to enter main entrance of hwe condo

A New Jersey condo association would not allow a deaf-blindwoman to enter the main entrance. Reason is her service dog.She has filed a lawsuit, with the assistance of theU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A British newspaper did a story on a person whoworks at a deaf school as – communication practitioner.What does that mean? Sign language instructor orinterpreter or oral speech teacher or what?

— earning a PhD in a field that was not in past dictionary

Audism is one of the newer words in the dictionary.A newspaper story said that a person earned a doctoratein Audism. This word means suppression of the deaf.Would that doctorate lead to a career in Deaf Advocacy?

— Starbucks’ confession

When Starbucks opened its first sign language store(not in Washington, DC, but in Malaysia) deaf peoplewere hired for jobs. But the management made aconfession that the deaf were hired for simple andboring jobs – because they felt deaf people were notcapable of doing something better in Starbucks!Since then, Starbucks has improved its attitudetowards deaf employees.

Perogies, popular in Poland, is also popular in manyparts of USA. It is dumplings, often filled withpotatoes, but some are with sauerkraut, sweetpotatoes, cheese, etc. Deaf Perogies? Yes, Gosia’sPierogies located in Latrobe, PA, is deaf-owned andmost of kitchen people are deaf. Deaf husband-wifeteam of Terry and Jan Smith-Rawecki, own and operatethis business. Their ingredients? Sorry, it is afamily secret, they said!

— big thumbs down from the deaf community

Hearing artist designed a mural that shows ASLin downtown Idaho Falls, Idaho. The DeafCommuity unanimously thumbed it down, sayingthe hearing artist knew nothing about fingerspelling and drew up the signs that werewrongly shown. Big question – why wasa hearing artist, knowing ZERO about deaf,given this assignment. There are many, manytalented deaf artists that can easily do the job!

— national deaf association operating a deaf school

Could National Association of the Deaf (NAD) operate adeaf school? No, because NAD’s job is advocacy,and while Deaf Education can be advocated, operatingthe school is a different matter. Anyway one nationalassociation operated a deaf school – the SingaporeAssociation for the Deaf operated the Singapore SchoolFor The Deaf for a number of years. Unfortunately,it closed up due to declining enrollment.